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Uncrewed Views

Commercial UAV News

Commercial UAV News brings together industry insiders—the engineers, the regulators, the standards builders, the thought leaders, and innovators—to talk about what commercial drone professionals and stakeholders need to know to go beyond buzzwords and jargon. We'll discuss what really matters to operators and organizations when it comes to using drones to perform numerous tasks in faster, cheaper and/or safer ways that define real-world value.

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  • 20 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 26 min
  • English

Episodes 20

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  • Wednesday · 23 min

    Commercial UAV Expo 2026 Recap and the Latest Drone Regulatory News

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins looks back on Commercial UAV Expo 2026 and breaks down the biggest regulatory news in the industry. He discusses the latest on Part 108 and TSA's new security roundtables, the tariffs that took effect this month, and where things stand with the FCC's proposed military-grade ban.

  • September 16 · 28 min

    Rethinking Drone Education Beyond Part 107 with Skydio for All's Mira Marquez

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Mira Marquez, Senior Program Director at Skydio for All. The two discuss how drone education programs are evolving beyond Part 107 certification, the industry-specific skills employers in public safety and energy utilities are looking for, and how professionals and educators can partner to build a stronger workforce pipeline. See below for documents mentioned in the conversation: Document for Evolving Programs Document for Drone Applications

  • August 5 · 24 min

    Everything to Know Before Commercial UAV Expo 2026

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins goes solo to preview Commercial UAV Expo 2026, taking place September 1-3 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas. He walks through the conference program, including both keynotes, the workforce development and regulatory sessions, and the return of the roundtable discussions. He also covers what's happening on the exhibit hall floor, from Pitch the Press to the indoor airspace demonstrations, plus workshops and the new DRONERESPONDERS program management course.

  • July 29 · 25 min

    Building the Next Generation of Drone Pilots, with Steffanie Rivers

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Steffanie Rivers, Founder of TCB Drones and TCB Drones Academy. The two discuss workforce development in the commercial drone industry, the National HBCU Aviation and Drone Leadership Initiative Steffanie launched this summer, and how regulatory shifts like Part 108 and the FCC's covered list are shaping the path for new pilots entering the field.

  • July 8 · 28 min

    Vetting Drone Pilots at Scale with Raad's Chris Tavani

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Chris Tavani, Chief Growth Officer at Raad. The two discuss how the company vets and ranks drone pilots at scale, the software tools Raad uses for real-time quality control, and what smaller operators should look for when hiring pilots on their own.

  • July 1 · 27 min

    Getting DAA Ready for Part 108 with Kraettli Epperson of Vigilant Aerospace Systems

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Kraettli Epperson, CEO of Vigilant Aerospace Systems. The two discuss how detect-and-avoid technology works under the hood, what the Part 108 NPRM means for operators preparing for BVLOS operations, and what steps operators and manufacturers can take now to be ready when the final rule is published. Link to Commercial UAV News' State of the Industry Survey, closing July 3: https://survey.divcom.com/s3/COMMERCIAL-DRONE-INDUSTRY-State-of-the-Industry-Survey-2026

  • June 24 · 28 min

    Getting Ready for Part 108 with FlyFreely's David Cole

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Dr. David Cole, co-founder and CEO of FlyFreely. The two discuss lessons the U.S. can draw from Australia's BVLOS regulatory transition, what Part 107 operators need to know as Part 108 approaches, and the overlooked operational challenges organizations should be planning for now. Link to Commercial UAV News' State of the Industry Survey: https://survey.divcom.com/s3/COMMERCIAL-DRONE-INDUSTRY-State-of-the-Industry-Survey-2026

  • June 17 · 22 min

    Matternet's Alex Norman on Why Drone Delivery Is Finally Taking Off

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Alex Norman, COO of Matternet. The two discuss the company's recent reverse merger that made Matternet the first pure-play drone delivery company publicly traded in the U.S., the lessons Matternet has carried from medical logistics into direct-to-consumer delivery, and what gaps still need to be closed before drone delivery reaches its full potential nationwide. Link to Commercial UAV News' State of the Industry Survey: https://survey.divcom.com/s3/COMMERCIAL-DRONE-INDUSTRY-State-of-the-Industry-Survey-2026

  • June 3 · 27 min

    From Detroit to the World Cup: Recent Industry News

    On this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins runs through some of the biggest topics from the industry over the last month, including takeaways from XPONENTIAL, the outlook for the World Cup, and the Section 2209 NPRM.

  • May 13 · 24 min

    Beyond Detection: How Critical Infrastructure Is Rethinking Drone Risk

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Melissa Swisher, CRO at SkySafe. The two discuss drone threats facing critical infrastructure operators, how the recent Section 2209 NPRM and GridEx VII are reshaping airspace security, and what detection and response actually looks like on the ground for these owners.

  • May 6 · 26 min

    Building the Full Stack for Counter UAS Technology, with Matt Kling

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Matt Kling, VP and general manager of AI Systems at MatrixSpace. The two discuss how the Safer Skies Act has shaped demand for counter-UAS technology, why gaps still exist between what agencies need and what's being deployed, and how MatrixSpace is approaching the counter-UAS challenge as a radar-first, hardware-and-software hybrid company.

  • April 29 · 28 min

    The Gap Between Collecting Great Data and Delivering It

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Russell Hall and Greg Floor, Senior Survey Project Managers at Langan Engineering. The three discuss how Langan fuses drone, mobile mapping, and ground-based sensor data into cohesive deliverables for complex private-sector projects, the real bottlenecks in getting rich datasets into the hands of non-technical clients, and how the FCC foreign drone ban and upcoming Part 108 rulemaking are shaping fleet decisions and long-range operational planning.

  • April 15 · 29 min

    How Drones Are Changing the Game for Executive Protection and Event Security

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Kevin Padilla, founder of AeroVis, and Allan Ring, founder of Critical Security Solutions. The three discuss how drones are being used for pre-mission 3D mapping and real-time surveillance in executive protection, the cross-vertical lessons Kevin brought from agricultural drone operations to the security space, and how high-profile assassination attempts have accelerated drone adoption among private security professionals.

  • April 8 · 23 min

    Gaussian Splatting 101 with Michael Rubloff

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Michael Rubloff, Founder of RadianceFields.com. The two discuss what Gaussian Splatting is and how it differs from traditional photogrammetry, why and how drone pilots and geospatial professionals in AEC and construction are already putting it to work, what drone pilots need to know about the technique, and what's on the horizon as spatial intelligence gets layered on top of real-time 3D reconstruction.

  • April 1 · 26 min

    Embodied AI and the Future of Autonomous Swarms

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Ben Wolff, President and CEO of Palladyne AI. The two discuss the concept of embodied AI and how putting intelligence on the drone itself changes performance in GPS-denied and communications-degraded environments, how Palladyne's Pilot Swarm OS enables a single operator to manage a fleet of autonomous drones, and an interesting new use case that illustrates just how broadly autonomous swarming technology could be applied.

  • March 25 · 27 min

    Building Public Trust and Scaling Drone Delivery with Beth Flippo of DEXA

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Beth Flippo, CEO and founder of DEXA (Drone Express), about the state of drone delivery in 2026. The two discuss DEXA's new pilot program with Grubhub in New Jersey, the unique challenges of operating in an urban environment compared to more rural deployments, and what it takes to earn both regulatory approval and public trust as the industry works toward mainstream adoption.

  • March 18 · 25 min

    How Titan Protection Security Scaled Drone Operations with a Nationwide BVLOS Waiver

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Ryan Smith, founder and president of Titan Protection Security, about how the company has been at the forefront of integrating drones into physical security operations for over a decade. The two discuss Titan's journey from early drone experimentation in 2014 to securing a nationwide BVLOS waiver from the FAA, the process behind the company's recent one-to-many approval allowing a single remote pilot to oversee up to four drones across multiple states, and how the evolving regulatory landscape is shaping the company's growth strategy and its vision for the future of drone-as-a-service in the security industry.

  • March 11 · 29 min

    Building Out A Drone-as-a-Service Model Through Acquisition

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Linda Montgomery, Vice President of Corporate Development, and Phil Franklin, Vice President of Business Development at ZenaTech, about the company's aggressive push into the drone-as-a-service market. The three discuss ZenaTech's rapid acquisition strategy across sectors like land surveying, power washing, and infrastructure inspection, the cultural challenges of integrating more than 20 companies in roughly a year, and how the evolving regulatory landscape is shaping the company's domestic manufacturing ambitions.

  • February 18 · 25 min

    The Technology and Regulation Behind Modern Drone Light Shows

    In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Rodrigo Serzedello, CEO and co-founder of Creative Skies, about the growing drone light show industry. The two discuss the technological advances enabling large-scale aerial performances, the regulatory waiver process for flying swarms at night, and how companies navigate safety concerns following high-profile incidents.

Showing 1–20 of 20 episodes